page 36

Primitive

It is positively necessary that your imagination should depict
A portion of my herbaceous border,
Where red and yellow geums and dark blue anchusas
Spring side by side from their abundant green.

It is the scarlet of Crimean battle pictures;
It is the blue of illustrations of Trafalgar;
It is the yellow that in old prints stands for gold;
Sheer vermilion, ultramarine, cadmium.

I have not yet evoked an image of true loveliness!
I tell you they are the pure colours the Angelic Brother saw in heaven,
And would not leave us ignorant.
Their extreme brightness might well make you weep for joy.